1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object information acquisition apparatus that receives an acoustic wave from an object to be tested.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an object information acquisition apparatus that receives acoustic waves to acquire object information, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-103913 discloses an apparatus utilizing the photo-acoustic effect. With this apparatus, an acoustic wave generated in an object as a result of illumination of light is received by a probe and converted into an image. In this apparatus, two opposing holding members hold a breast as the object, and when receiving an acoustic wave, two-dimensional scanning is performed in the horizontal and vertical directions along the holding members using the probe. A housing, in which the probe (transducer) is housed, is provided with an oil seal to allow a space between the probe and the holding member to be filled with a matching liquid such as oil that is used to match the acoustic impedance. The oil seal has an opening formed on its upper surface in order to remove bubbles entrained in the matching liquid. The matching liquid having overflowed from the opening flows downward along the holding member and is recovered in a tank using a recovery mechanism.
Although the above-described document discloses that the matching liquid having overflowed flows downward along the holding member, there is no consideration for a case in which the matching liquid overflows onto the upper surface of the housing (that is, a case in which the matching liquid stays on the upper surface of the housing).